Private condo rents flat, HDB rents dip in June: SRX Property

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Private condo rents flat, HDB rents dip in June: SRX Property

Jul 14, 2016


RENTS for private non-landed homes were likely flat in June compared to May, while those for Housing & Development Board (HDB) flats dipped 0.3 per cent from a month ago, going by flash estimates from SRX Property.

Non-landed private home rents in the city fringe or Rest of Central Region increased by 0.8 per cent in June. But rents in the Core Central Region and Outside Central Region slipped 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively in June, SRX Property said.

SRX estimates that rental volumes increased 2 per cent month on month to 4,256 non-landed units in June, representing a 7.9 per cent increase from June last year.

R'ST Research director Ong Kah Seng noted that the flattish rental trend for private non-landed homes comes as no surprise, since many corporates across industries are downsizing or letting go of professionals from a broad spectrum (from locals to foreigners and across ranks) amid cautious economic times.

"It is unlikely in mid-year or from April onwards that we will see significant increase in expatriates seconded to Singapore, resulting in increased fresh leases signed or renew leases," he said.

Mr Ong noted that it used to be that new condos can command a fairly good premium compared to the old ones, but with the influx of new completions, that rental premium is diminishing.

As for HDB rents, the drag came from three and four-room flats, where rents fell 1.3 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively. Rental volumes of HDB flats were 0.5 per cent lower at 1,826 transactions, SRX estimates.

Rents in mature and non-mature estates decreased by 0.1 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively in June.

"The rentals for HDB flats are still on soft landing, downward slide generally, due to tenants finding more choices available in recent times," Mr Ong said.

In SRX Property's flash May report, an estimated 4,400 non-landed private homes were rented in that month. It has since updated this number in its June flash report to 4,172 units, which translates to a month-on-month drop in rental volumes in May from the latest revised April figure instead of an earlier reported increase.

Similarly, HDB flat rental volumes were estimated to be 2,005 in May 2016 in the flash May report; in its June flash report, SRX Property updated this to 1,836 HDB rental transactions for May. This translates to a month-on-month fall in May instead of an earlier reported rise.

SRX clarified that it continues to receive delayed rental transactions for the month of May from real estate agencies. Hence, the final May numbers should gravitate towards its original estimates, which are based on the agencies' historical submission pattern and timeline.